The 2,800-ton frigates are scheduled to be delivered to the Navy by 2022, according to the shipyard. The vessels will feature stealth design and use a hybrid electric drive propulsion system designed to reduce noise for more effective anti-submarine operations.

The Daegu-class is an improvement of the preceding Incheon-class frigate, and has otherwise been referred to an Incheon-class batch II, or FFX-II. Modifications to the Incheon-class include a 16-cell Korean Vertical Launching System (K-VLS) that will be able to deploy the Cheolmae-2 air defense missile, Hong Sang Eo anti-submarine missile, and Haeseong-II and Hyunmoo-3 land attack cruise missiles (LACM).

Eight Daegu-class ships are planned, with the final goal of 20-22 frigates (of all types) in the ROKN. The Daegu-class vessels are to be built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME).

The first ship of the class, ROKS Daegu (FFG-818), was launched on June 2, 2016. The vessel was delivered to the ROK Navy in February this year and was commissioned into the fleet on March 6.